Sorry for the off topic post, but I think I can tie it into audio equipment, just bear with me.

I've got a mouse problem at home. Snap traps seem to be locking up and the food is eaten right off.. poison doesn't seem to be doing much. glue traps aren't working.

I want to make a DIY rat trap that electrocutes the rat / mouse. I could just buy the rat zapper..but thats no fun!

I'm thinking of taking a pvc pipe and lining the bottom half with two separated strips of metal. Then that will be connected to a tube amp step up transformer (here's the audio content!) I'm thinking about some resettable fuse that will trip after the rat gets a lethal shock. I think the fuse is important as I don't want the thing to be constantly under current and catch aflame.

Some questions:

1. Will this work?2. Do I need a step up transformer?3. Of course depending on the transformer, what circuit breaker value should I start with?4. Is this risky.... i'm thinking home fires, etc... I've done lots of tube amp work.

Also, this isn't a prank post, but feel free to have fun. I'm just about at wits end.

I have both a commercial zapper and classic spring traps. I have yet to catch anything but spiders in the electronic trap, while the classic traps will periodically do the desired job.

This thread is a good reminder to refresh baits because this is the time of the year that field mice come indoors for warmth and food.

If the trap is sprung and empty, get a bigger trap, but be careful those rat traps can more than sting your fingers. If they are eating the bait and not tripping the trap, consider using something sticky like peanut butter or cheese spread on the trigger. Some of the new wire traps use a redesigned plastic trigger mechanism that appears a little more sensitive, but the classic design seems pretty effective.

Back on topic. The electric trap most likely uses a switching dc to dc convertor to charge up a capacitor from a battery and once tripped must be reset to recharge. They also go to some lengths to make it difficult for a human to reach the electrodes. The electronic trap is patented so a search may reveal some how-to. A photography strobe charging circuit may make a good supply for an electronic zapper but be careful, if these things kill small mammals they may seriously zip you.

I remember years ago seeing a rat trap built by some fellow in Germany in a Popular Mechanics magazine. It was a tube the rats would crawl into to get some bait. Across the width of the tube was a photocell and a light beam. When the Rat blocked the beam, a solenoid would activate and crush the rat's body. He built it on a little pedestal above the ground that the rats would have to climb up to get into the tube, and then fall out when killed.

Do I detect abunch of tree huggin .never mind, I have to live with the Loma Prieta branch of the sierra club, they get pissed when i start a fire or play my radio past 10 pm, so i deal with it,

, and the last thing you want to do is start a war with a bunch of bleeding heart liberals on animal rights, becuase they will Never never back down, and we will need a crow bar to pry our hands from the trigger.Polarized like a cap, which sounds like a cool idea, Zap!

We built a GFI for a guy that monitors electric fences for prisons, he want to know the diff between humans and animals shorting out the fence, so we built him a precisio low level current sensor, pretty weird, eh?

All I know is those Spring clips never worked so I went with the sticky pad. It got a bunch of those camel back grasshoppers as well as the mouse. Pretty cruell and no fun to see the mouse panting to death. Next time I'll have to get on of those steel boxes....

BTW I wouldn't mess around with chance of electrical fires to trap a mouse or rat.

Logged

-CharlieIf it sounds good enough, just move on to the next DIY project on your bench.

I have no qualms about killing mice or rats, they are one of the most messiest, disease spreading, destructive animals that exist. I live in the country, and wherever mice ever set up a nest they make a helluva mess. Last thing I want to do is set them free to start all over again.

Those squirrels that you have there CJ, are they native to California? Hollywood? The ones we have here are Red and straight!! :wink: :wink: :grin: :grin:

I might add, a technician I worked with years ago was a kind heart sort - It was found that there was a mouse in the shop, so he made a mousetrap from an old automotive 8 track tape deck housing. He propped open the spring loaded cartridge door with a toothpick and put bait inside; I think it was pizza.Next morning he had the culprit

I would never consider poison. The reason being I used to work at a studio that used poison for a mouse problem. The mice would eat it & then go somewhere inaccessible to die. After a few days the stench was terrible & there was absolutely nothing you could do about it other than tear the wall down

because who knows what the hell will happen in the basement of the apt when a mouse or rat gets into this electrical death machine. the victim could shoot out like a flaming fireball. Maybe i'll make the execution tube all metal and put U's at the ends thereby containing any flaming mouse parts.

I'm thinking that a standard 10 - 15 AMP resettable circuit breaker will do me good, i can just dump the crispy critter and flip it back on for round 2.